Case Number 14766

SPEED RACER: THE COMPLETE CLASSIC COLLECTION

The Charge

As champion of the West Side Grunters and Groaners I promise you are in
for a lot of groaning! -- Pops Racer

Opening Statement

Speed Racer is a series that is ingrained into every boy's childhood,
whether it be when the show first came to American shores in the late '60s or
its resurgence in the early '90s. And while fans may be mixed on the recent film
adaptation, there's no denying the original anime series hasn't changed a bit.
After releasing the show in individual volumes over the past couple years,
Lionsgate has taken all 52 of the fast-talking, car-wrecking, completely campy
episodes and shoved them into a giant, metal Mach 5.

Facts of the Case

Speed Racer debuted on American television in 1967 and became one of
the first successful Japanese anime shows in the States. The show, which was
translated and edited for American audiences, was originally based off the manga
by Tatsuo Yoshida.

In case you know nothing about the series, here's a fast-talking
summary:

Speed Racer is the fastest and best racer in the world. He drives a race car
called the Mach 5, which was built by his dad, Pops Racer. Pops builds the
world's best racing cars, and he's built himself a great reputation at the same
time. Speed competes in every race with the support of his friend Trixie, and
his younger brother Spritle. Usually Spritle hides in the Mach 5's trunk with
his pet monkey Chim-Chim. It's dangerous for Spritle to hide in the trunk,
especially during these races which often take place in the mountains or on
other dangerous and deadly tracks. Along the way, Speed is also helped by the
mysterious Racer X. Little does Speed know that Racer X is actually his brother,
Rex, who ran away from home years ago.

The Evidence

Speed Racer is a ridiculous show. The plotlines are a mad mix of
corporate politics and high-stakes racing. The villains have bizarre names like
"Tongue Blaggard" and "Ace Deucey." Everyone talks in a
Morse code pattern of run-on sentences and gasps. Oh yeah, and the show is
filled with vicious car wrecks resulting in (I assume) countless deaths. But for
as ludicrous as all this sounds -- especially for a children's show -- I assure
you these are all very good things.

I first became accustomed to the show when it aired on MTV in the '90s. It
was a funny diversion; a window into the strange world of early Japanese
animation. At least I knew where it was coming from. When kids were watching it
in the '60s, few knew it was an import. This is largely due to the
Americanization the show went through at the talented hands of Peter Fernandez.
He wrote and directed the show, as well as provided the voices for Speed and
Racer X. The plots are similar to their Japanese counterparts, but the dialogue
is totally Western. Fernandez was forced to write and record as much dialogue as
he could to fit the animated mouths of the characters, hence the series'
trademark "fast-talking" that rivals the MicroMachine Guy.

Speed Racer, like many Japanese cartoons of the time, lasted just one
52-episode season. The series certainly has some standout episodes that define
the Speed Racer experience, and there are hardly any stinkers. Everything is cut
from the same outrageous cloth. While each episode has a balance of on and off
the track action, things don't always center around a big race. As the series
progressed, focus shifted slightly away from the two-part epic race tales like
"The Great Plan" and "The Race Against the Mammoth Car" to
diversions like "The Car Hater" and "The Supersonic Car."
Incredibly, the show never feels dull or repetitive, despite the liberal amount
of recycled animation. This is largely due to the colorful cast of villains,
cars, and locales in each episode. And for as confounding as the cyclical
dialogue may seem at times, it's also occasionally clever and layered. If
anything, the show will make you laugh at its audaciousness.

The animation is cheap, sure, but it's not without ambition. Its influence
on American animation is undeniable. One could even argue that it's had a
profound effect on framing and camera movement in cinema as well. The characters
range from crudely drawn to wonderfully rendered, and each episode contains some
pretty surprising instances of creativity. For example, in a very early episode,
a dangerous villain in sunglasses is harassing Pops in the garage. There's a
jump cut to Speed entering; the camera then zooms out to reveal that the shot of
Speed is actually reflecting off the sunglasses of the villain. It's something
that's done quite often in film, but to be seen in a rough '60s cartoon
certainly caught my attention. Not all of the cool animation is as dramatic as
this, though. Sometimes it's as simple as a rotating perspective or a freeze
frame in the middle of a fiery wreck. Part of me wonders what this show would
have been like with a bigger budget, but, at the same time, its cheapness adds
to its charm.

If you were ever a fan of the show, I can't think of a better way to snag
the whole series in one fell swoop. I do need to point out that if you've
already purchased the five individually released volumes, there's no need to
pick this up; Speed Racer: The Complete Classic Collection is merely a
re-packaging of those discs. This means that, aside from the disc labels,
there's little uniformity in the way the discs are set up. The first disc has a
neat dossier feature with plenty of info about the series and its characters.
The second disc has cool little icons denoting what villains and cars are in
each episode, and even lets you skip to those specific scenes to see a clip.
These features fall by the wayside in the later discs, even though the menus
themselves become fancier. And of course, each disc's menu still denotes the
volume number from the individual releases.

Despite all this, the video and audio quality is pretty standard throughout.
The show was cheaply made, and survives with some major picture issues. The
video is often grainy, faded, or scratched, and looks as if little has been done
to revive it. If they did re-master all of these episodes, then this is as good
as they're going to get. The same goes for the sound, which is decent, except
when it comes to the internal monologues of the characters. Then the dialogue
becomes distorted and fuzzy. The show's score, however, remains a jazzy and
impressive aspect of the series. And if you're a real die-hard fan, I do have to
note that these episodes are the re-mastered early '90s versions, after Speed
Racer Enterprises was formed and bought the rights off of Trans-Lux. The only
real difference is that the logo in the opening credits is the newer fancier
one, instead of the old-school white one.

What is new in this set, aside from the sweet tin car and heavy cardboard
booklet that holds the DVDs, is the sixth disc of bonus features. Sadly, these
features aren't as thorough or as cool as I had hoped -- a featurette on the
history of Speed Racer; a making-of featurette about Speed Racer: The
Next Generation; and a bonus episode of The Next Generation.
"The History of Speed Racer" is the most interesting of the
three, and features interviews with folks in charge of Speed Racer Enterprises
as well as Peter Fernandez. It gives good insight into the regionalization of
the series and its unique success in the American market. Sadly, the whole video
only lasts about 10 minutes. The making-of The Next Generation is pretty
lame. It's clear this show is a cash-in on the new live action movie, and this
featurette fails to make it look appealing at all. To further these suspicions,
simply watch the included episode, which for some reason is episode four, rather
than episode one. The show is a typical American cartoon that lacks much of what
made the original sing. And the computer generated race cars look about as good
as The Incredible Crash Dummies cartoon. Anyone else remember that?
Anyone? Bueller?

The Rebuttal Witnesses

For as cool as the idea of storing these DVDs inside of the Mach 5 may sound,
I wish the car casing was little more than a metal shell. This thing might as
well be a chocolate covered pretzel tin. It isn't quite cool enough to display
prominently, and it's too bulking to slide onto a DVD shelf. It's a nice
thought, but they should have spent a little more time on the design.

Closing Statement

If the hype around the film adaptation of Speed Racer has you jonesing
for the classic anime, this is the best set you can get. All 52 episodes in a
neat package, so you can show your friends the astounding "Car Hater"
episode any time you want. The show's ambitious-but-cheap design still shines as
a hysterically odd beacon of late-'60s animation.

But buyer beware, if you already own the five individual volumes of the
series, there's no need to pick this set up. The discs are exactly the same and
the new bonus features just aren't worth it.

The Verdict

Guilty, I say! Don't you believe me when I say this show is guilty? It's
clearly guilty, just look at it! Guilty!